Naruto's First Memories
by grahamgarrett.powerofanime
Summary: The loyalty of the dog can prevent the vengeance of the fox, and the Inuzuka clan is willing to prove that. But as the saying goes, one bad apple can ruin the basket: will one of their own ruin Naruto's chances for a happy life?


**Naruto's First Memories  
**

At three years old, Naruto had already seen too much of his kind's cruelty, so he didn't expect much as he stood in front of the orphanage. He didn't want to get swatted again, but he was hungry enough to risk it. He swallowed and drifted back into an unformed memory of comfort and kindness. But in the future, the current incident would be the first clear picture he would have.

_Tap, tap, tap. _Something gently hit the man's heavy wooden front door. Grumbling to himself as he looked up from his book, the man said, "Who is it?"

_Tap, tap, tap. _The noise came again. Irritated, the man got up and jerked the door open with an effort to see a small blond boy looking at him hopefully. "Whaddaya want, kid?"

"C-could I haff some food? I hafn't eaten since...um...I don't know."

"And you're hungry?"

Naruto nodded.

"Come in, boy, and I'll get you something," the man said.

The man couldn't help but chuckle when the boy brightened like the summer sun. But when the man came back with some of the ramen that he always kept warm, he noticed the whisker lines on the child's cheeks. Instantly cautious, he set the ramen down unwittingly close enough for the kid to smell it, but not close enough for him to get to it.

"What's your name, kid?"

Rather imprudently, the kid told the truth. "Naruto."

"Uzumaki?" the man asked coldly.

"That sounds right."

All kindness and friendliness left the man's face. He got up, picked up the bowl, and poured it back into the pot. "Leave."

Clueless, Naruto said, "B-but you said you'd f-feed...me."

"I do not feed monsters._ Leave._"

Sobbing, Naruto got up and tried to pull the door open to get away from the cruel man and the heavenly smell of the pot now denied him, but the door wouldn't budge.

Smiling nastily, the man said, "Allow me." He jerked the door open and kicked Naruto down the stone steps.

When he stopped rolling, Naruto lay there for a while, stunned. Then he tried to get up. His bruised arms and leg, combined with lack of food, kept him down for a while longer.

When he stood up, he stumbled away with tears streaming down his face.

It was a very beautiful day, with no clouds in the sky and the leaves of the trees were turning red. He wandered around in ever-greater hunger, continually asking for something to eat, and consistently being refused. Finally, he found an apple tree. He was excited about this, since trees can't feel malice, but then he realised that he couldn't reach the lowest branch.

He decided to try climbing, but the bark ripped at his hands, and the sap got into the cuts, and he couldn't get enough purchase to climb.

At dusk, he was still staring longingly at the bright red apple directly above him. Suddenly his head drooped, and he turned, and sat down with his back to the tree, his stomach shouting obscenities at him.

_Thunk._ Something hard hit his head. "Owwww," he said quietly, holding his head. Then he saw what had hit him. With a small gasp and a giggle, he picked up the bright red apple and bit into it with gusto. He was finished within 30 seconds and looked up again.

Straight into the eyes of a fox.

It was a very ordinay fox, except that instead of the usual brown, its eyes were blue. After staring at Naruto for what seemed an age, the fox started jumping on the branch, knocking loose more apples. Naruto ate every last one of them, then smiled at the fox.

"Thanks."

As if in reply, the fox jumped down from the tree and dashed to the street corner. There it stopped and looked back at him. "You want me to follow you?" Naruto asked. After getting a look that clearly said "What do you think?" Naruto scrambled after it.

The fox led Naruto past many places that he knew he'd seen before, but couldn't remember at all. After dark they reached a compound with very few buildings.

The fox then guided Naruto to a huge enclosure and went inside. When Naruto came trailing after, he found it pitch black, but it was also the warmest place he had ever been. Many bodies stared at him with eyes that seemed to glow, but there was only interest in the disembodied gazes.

One of the vague forms trotted over and sniffed him. Naruto giggled and returned the favor. The four legged whatever-it-was licked his cheek and guided him to the big pile where he fell asleep.

The next morning he was woken up by a scream. "Ahhhhhhhhh!" the slender teenage girl ripped loose. Many voices and footsteps started thundering toward the enclosure.

"What is it?"

"What's going on?"

"Did a rabbit find it's way into the kennels?

"No, that was Hana's voice."

"Dang girl screams no matter _how _she feels!"

"Hahahaha! But she sure makes things interesting!"

"Waaaaah!"

"Damn it, Hana, you've woken Kiba!"

"Sorry mom! But there's a strange kid _sleeping _with the dogs!"

"What was that? Let me see! The child hasn't been eaten yet?" Tsume asked.

"It _hasn't _been eaten yet?" a random voice called out.

All this time Naruto and the dogs―the smallest of which was five times his size―were doing their best to protect their ears.

Tsume capitalized on the fact that she got there first by plucking Naruto from the middle of the writhing pile of fur, and concealing him under her cloak. "Now you listen to me," she hissed at Hana, "If they ask you where the kid has gone, tell them he ran away when you started screaming."

"But mom―"

"No time, girl, this must be kept a secret!"

"A secret?"

"I'll tell you later."

When Tsume got to the nursery where Kiba was still tearing at the eyes a little from being woken up, she laid him in the same crib. Then she murmered at the quivering little body: "There, there, Naruto, it's alright. You're back. No one will hurt you," she paused a little bit before continuing to herself. "I was at my wit's end when you disappeared two weeks ago, you know."

After tucking Naruto in on the other side, she sat in a corner, knowing Hana would be there soon for an explanation. Sure enough, a couple minutes later there was a hesitant tap at the door.

"Hana?" Tsume asked rhetorically, "Come in."

Hana hesitantly opened the door, and saw Naruto in the same crib as Kiba.

"Ahhhhh―umphhh." Tsume covered her mouth abruptly.

"Keep quiet!" she hissed.

"This is why I haven't been allowed in here for 3 years? You've been taking care of the same kid I caught in the Kennels?" Hana asked, outraged. "You could've told me, I can keep a secret!"

"Hush, Hana."

"When'll you answer my question?!" Tsume slapped Hana across the face. This was a common occurance, fortunately, or Hana would be shrieking out her lungs again.

"When you _keep quiet._" Hana subsided sullenly. Tsume sat back down and closed her eyes. A minute passed until Hana grew impatient again.

"Ahh―"

"Shh!" Hana's face brightened when she realised what she was doing, sat down next to her, and waited. It was a full 10 minutes until Tsume opened her eyes again. "Well done, Hana, you have indeed learned patience." Hana smiled at the praise.

"So what were you going to tell me?"

Tsume looked at her again, amused. "Or maybe not."

"Ack!" Hana said, "I mean, whenever you're ready, mother." At this Tsume chuckled, letting the sweat of withheld curiosity percolate for a while.

"Alright, girl, since you're so desperate I will tell you. Yes, this other child is the reason you haven't been allowed into the nursery since Kiba was born. Yes, that is why the dogs didn't startle and rip him to shreds: they recognized his scent. Yes he has been feeding off of the same milk as Kiba, and he disappeared two weeks ago for a reason I haven't learned yet. The reason I have kept it a secret is that my idiotic brother Gaban would have gotten rid of him in an instant. The reason I have him in the first place is that the third Hokage asked me to take care of him, and the only other person who knows is your father."

At that moment, the light-colored door to the nursery (which also had one entire wall of windows and nature scenes painted on the other three walls) opened quietly, admitting the children's father, Himaru. He looked flatly at Hana, who blushed, and walked straight to Tsume. Tsume paled at the look in his eyes. For the first time, his eyes held a different expression than his love for her, or his neutrality to anyone else. Now he was worried. And when the Man of Ice was worried, the implications were terrible.

"Gaban wants to talk to you."

Tsume stood up slowly, expressionless. She paused at the crib and fluffed both boys hair. Then she left the nursery, telling Hana to watch the two of them. "What's his name?" Hana asked.

"Naruto," was the answer. Hana couldn't help herself, she giggled, but then she was able to clamp a lid on it.

"Naruto?" she asked. "But...heehee...that means Fish Paste. Who would name...hehehe...their kid Fish Paste? Heeheeheeheehee!"

Himaru looked at his daughter, _how did I get to be surrounded by such firecrackers? _he thought. _They both need to calm down and pace themselves. _Then out loud he said: "I am afraid who it was is classified. Only the heads of certain families, your mother and I, and the Hokage know that. It can't be told to anyone."

When Tsume got to the main office, she opened the door and strolled in, trying and failing to look confident. "You always were transparent, Tsume-chan." The dark-skinned angular man behind the mahogany desk observed. Tsume flopped into the chair across from him.

"What do you want?'

"Some answers. This child, how long have you been protecting it?" Tsume sat up straight.

"Oh come now," Gaban said derisively. "You didn't really think that I hadn't noticed? But how long has it been? Why haven't you told me? And what right do you think you have, denying the dogs their snack?"

Tsume got pissed. "That _child_ isn't a snack!"

"Then _what is it?_" Tsume paled. Gaban sighed and leaned back. "It was bad enough knowing that your son was born the day before the Kyuubi attacked, even worse to think you were suffering from something I didn't know about. But now I know. I know that you were keeping secrets from me." Tsume started trembling. Gaban continued in a savage tone. "I..._HATE_...secrets. You know what happens when someone won't tell me the truth..."

Defeated, Tsume started talking. "The child's name is Uzumaki Naruto, the third Hokage-sama asked me to care for him as if he were my own because he was barely a day old himself. We both agreed that you shouldn't know about it, because you had always hated his father."

Gaban calmly slipped in another question as he leaned back. "Now who would that be? And why would the Third ask you in particular to care for him?"

"His mother is of a related clan," Tsume said carefully.

"Yes. I got that from Uzumaki...but why would the father be one as well? I would expect the _mother_ to be a native, as the Uzumakis never lived in the fire country."

"He was given his mother's name as extra protection from enemies."

"That would explain it. Return to the matter of the father."

"Yes sir."

"Continue." Gaban said flatly.

After taking a deep breath, Tsume continued. "The father was Namikaze Minato, the man who defeated you in the bid to become fourth Hokage." Sitting there, sweating, Tsume waited.

Gaban pondered this for a moment, though his savage eyes gave away his anger. "I see why you did not tell me sooner. Very well," he said with forced casualness as he leaned back, resting his feet against the hardwood desk, "you have one week to get rid of that trash in any way you can. If it is not gone by the time I inspect the nursery, you will be thrown out with it." After a thought, he added. "But you can keep Kiba. Himaru and I will raise Hana to be obediant, like a loyal dog."

Tsume rose up, the savage sentence raising her ire. But Gaban simply looked at her and stated: "Whatever you're going to do, I suggest you do it fast. You are dismissed."

Shaking with anger and fear, Tsume walked swiftly to the nursery, where she explained the situation to her husband and daughter. When she finished, the door closed. "So these two were the ones you confided in?" Gaban had followed her. "I expected more from you, brother, but you, Hana, will have to be whipped."

"No!" Tsume burst out. "She only learned of it this morning! I beg you, leave her out of it."

Gaban, puzzled, looked at her for a moment, then nodded. "Very well, I will not whip her for this incident. Remember," he said as he walked back out, "one week."

Two days later, Tsume had found a comfortable—if abandoned—house that seemed just right for young Naruto.

As she and Hana were busy making sure that Naruto wouldn't get sick from the house's refuse, Himaru occupied the two boys with games. One of these games was the rather worn classic "hide-and-seek", but they both loved it, which boded well for both their futures as ninjas.

During one round, Naruto suddenly vanished, and no matter how hard he tried, Himaru couldn't find him. But then, just as suddenly, he reappeared at the base of a very large old oak. Puzzled, Himaru inspected the trunk, looking for a secret, but the only thing he found was a small, neat carving of a fox-head.

"_It must be a Sigil Ninjutsu_," He thought. _"Something that only a Namikaze can access, and that they can access at anytime. But those are supposed to be nearly impossible to prepare." _It was fascinating, and he mentioned it toTsume over dinner that night.

"Sigiljutsu?" Tsume scoffed over her medium rare steak. Unlike other families, table manners wasn't much of an issue among the Inuzuka, so all she was using was her fork to stuff it in her mouth. "That's a myth," she said with her mouth full, "they're too difficult to create."

Himaru actually got on the defensive for once. "All I know is that Naruto vanished when he was next to the oak, and the only thing out of place was the sign of the Namikaze clan: a fox head carved in the trunk."

Tsume narrowed her eyes and swallowed. "You're right, that's suspicious. All right, we'll check it out tomorrow."

Himaru raised an eyebrow. "I'm curious," Tsume explained.

The next day they went back out, and let Naruto reopen the trunk with the Sigiljutsu. With a creak part of the trunk slowly rose up out of the ground, revealing a pitch black shaft with rungs stuck at even intervals on the opposite side. Despite the lack of light they went down without hesitation. At the bottom of the ladder they landed in a small circular room. Naruto crawled off of Tsume's back, where Kiba was as well, and toddled across a table which was, for all intents and purposes, invisible. Suddenly a candelabrum at the other end lit up, surprising Naruto.

"look..." Hana whispered.

"What is it, girl?" Tsume asked.

"There's two tunnels, one goes to the left, I can't see much else there, and the right one goes straight to the...common room...of the left wing...our own complex! Someone could have used this to infiltrate home at any time!"

"I don't think so," Himaru murmured. "That candelabra was a Sigiljutsu as well, and the exits are definitely Sigiljutsu. Only Namikazes could have used these tunnels. Even a Bloodsync technique can only be used twice before it fades, then the user has to wait 96 hours before they can do it again."

Hana pouted. "What is there to stop a _Namikaze_ from infiltrating our home?"

Tsume chuckled. "Other than the fact that Naruto is the last one left? When the Hokage is occupied with emergency matters, the Namikaze were always Konoha's defenders, Hana. There was never anything to fear from them. I'm glad you found this, Himaru. Naruto must have slipped out of the nursery and used the door in the common room to sneak out that time." And with that, they had to leave Naruto to his own devices for the most part.

That night, Himaru posed a question to Tsume: "Are you sure he's the last Namikaze?"

"What?" Tsume asked, nonplussed, "what makes you say that?"

"The history books state that the first Hokage was a Namikaze as well."

Tsume's face fell. "I'd hoped you had a real reason for saying that. The first Hokage was the greatest Ninja of the Senju clan of the forest. He was not a Namikaze. Besides, if you haven't noticed, the First has been dead a _long time._"

But Himaru was still thinking. "According to the book I found, the Senju was originally a general name for the many clans which joined the nomads and only later did it become the clan name."

Now Tsume was interested. "Come to think of it, I did hear that the Senju had three names for each individual: The personal, the family, and Senju. All right, let's say that the First was a Namikaze-Senju, what does that mean?"

"Well, it would mean that he had _a_ member of his family left, anyway."

"Ah yes," Tsume mused, "Tsunade and Tenzou."

"Ermm, who do you mean, Tenzou?"

"The member of ANBU who's past is nearly unknown. All that _is_ known is that he has the First's bloodline limit."

"What, you think Naruto may have that blood limit?"

"No. We know that Naruto's father's branch of the family came to Konoha a

couple years after the Third was instated, so he isn't directly related."

"Let me get this straight, you're saying that of the current generations, his closest relatives are dozens, maybe even _hundreds_ of times removed?"

"Not including us, yes. But you've got to admit, that's better than having nobody."

"True."

Tsume still went to the abandoned house as often as possible while Naruto was still too young to earn money for his food. She taught him how to read, and take care of expenses, and the rudimentaries of writing (which was all she knew.). She also often brought Kiba to play with him. She had every intention of preventing the difficulties from which other Jinchuurikis suffered from happening to Naruto.

But Gaban found out about what she was doing within the next fortnight, and forbade her from slipping off from the manor to help Naruto. In response, Hana took Tsume's place, and kept it up for a longer while under the pretense of "Practicing her veterinary training." Unfortunately, Hana was a worse teacher than even her mother. She was 13, after all.

She was also found out in a of couple months, and at this point Gaban did whip her. Then he extended the forbidding to everyone who might help Tsume. However, by this time Naruto was able to take care of himself.

He was even happier when, seven years later, he somehow was actually accepted into the Academy and got to see Kiba again.

Soon Kiba introduced him to two other kids their age, named Shikamaru and Choji, and the Awkward Squad was born: the best times of his life (as bad as they still were) were about to begin.

But no matter how much pain and suffering came later, or how much he forgot, he always knew that somewhere there was someone who cared for him.


End file.
